Wire-tying machine



D. P. WELDEN w1RE-TY1NG MACHINE.

Feb. 13, 196s -Sheet l 2 Sheets Filed June 28, 1965 Feb. 13, 1968 D, P. wELDl-:N 3,368,590

WIRE-TYING MACHINE Filed June 28, 1965 2 sheets-sheer 2' United States Patent() 3,368,590 WIRE-TYING MACHINE David P. Welden, N. Indiana Ave., Iowa Falls, Iowa 50126 Filed June 28, 1965, Ser. No. 467,665 16 Claims. (Cl. 140-93) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A wire-tying device having a generally U-shaped track for extending around workpieces to be tied, a chain movable on the track and carrying a hook means adapted to engage wire and move it along the track around the workpieces, and a wire twister for engaging the ends ofthe wire and tying them around the workpieces. The track may be opened by pivoting one leg outwardly to provide an accessopening to receive and remove workpieces from inside the track. The hook means on the movable chain may include a pair of grooves which intersect, one of the grooves being deeper than the other groove, the other groove receiving the tying wire and the one groove -receiving the free end of a U-shaped rod element in the wire twister.

This wire-tying machine has many uses and one of them is in tying together the reinforcing rods used in forming concrete products, particularly prestressed concrete. Wherever t-he reinforcing rods cross each other they should be tied together. This is a job that can require a great deal of time but has been greatly simplied by the use of this wire tying machine.

Therefore, it is one of the principal objects of this invention to provide a wire-.tying machine which is handheld and which may be easily operated.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wiretying machine which may perform a tying operation in the minimum amount of time using the minimum number of component parts in the wire-tying machine.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wiretying machine wherein a predetermined length of wire may be selected for each tying operation. t

Another object of this invention is to provide a wiretying machine which not only ties the wire to the workpieces but also automatically encircles the workpieces as `a preliminary step.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a wire-tying machine having a track with a chain movable therein for carrying the wire around the workpieces to be tied together.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a vtying machine which will form a loop in -a length of wire and then wrap t-he wire around the workpieces to be tied and then tie the free ends of the double strand wire together.

A further object of this invention is to provide a wiretying mach-ine which is simple in design, economical to manufacture and rened 4in appearance.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

This invention consists in the construction', arrangements, and combination. of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, specically pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is ia side elevational view of the wire-'tying machine and showing in dash lines the handle member connected to the track in its open position;

FIG. 2 i's a side elevation view of the wire feed motor,

the length of the tying wire;

ice

gether and the wire twister is about to remove the looped end of the wire from the hook on the carrying chain;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional elevational view taken along line 5-5 in FIG. 4 showing in particular the construction and relationship of the track and carrying chain;

FIG. 6 is a top plan fragmentary view of the hook element `carried by the carrying chain taken along line 6 6 of FIG. 7;

lFIG. 7 is a side elevation View ofthe chain and hook element to enlarged scale taken from FIG. l;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perspective veiw of a rod with the tying wire wrapped therearound;

IFIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the device taken along line 9-9 in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 10 is an electrical schematic drawing for the wire tying device.

The wire-tying device of this invention is referred to generally by the reference numeral 10 in which FIG. 1 which includes a frame 12 having a track 14 extending from one end thereof. A pair of hand handles 16 and 18 are provided on the top and bottom sides of the frame 12 for hand holding the wire-tying -machine 10.

The track 14 has -a portion 20 extending along a substantial portion of the length of the frame 12 and has a I-shaped portion 22 extending outwardly of the frame 12. On t-he top side of the frame 12 as illustrated in FIG. 1 at the end thereof adjacent the J-shaped portion l22, a semicircular track portion 24 is provided which is pivotally secured -by a member 26 to the frame 12 and pivots about an axis 28. An over the center type linkage 30 connects the member 28 to the top handle 16 which is pivotally connected to the frame 12 -about an axis 32.

As best seen in FIG. 4, a yoke member 34 is iixedly secured to the outer end of the J -shaped track portion 22 and is adapted to hold in place a pair of reinforcing rods 36 while they are being tied together.

A sprocket chain 38 has a loose or free end 40l and then extends over -a sprocket drive wheel 42 powered in a conventional manner by a chain drive motor 44. The lchain 38 then moves in the track portion 20 and then on into the J -shaped track portion 22 and finally into the semicircular track portion 24 as best seen in FIG. 4. In FIG. 5 the ,chain and track portion 24 are shown in cross-section.

A hook member 46 is iixedly secured to the outer end of the chain 318 as best seen in FIG. 7. A wire-receiving slot 48 having outwardly tapering sides is formed in the hook 46 to receive a length of wire 50i. Extending perpendicular to the slot 48 is a deeper slot 52 which crosses the slot 48 and is adapted to receive the hook portion on the wire twister which will be described herein'below.

Also, a pair of actuating pins 54 (FIGS. l and 3) and 56 (FIGS. 4 and 9) are provided in spaced apart relationship on links of the chain 38.

The wire 50 is positioned to be engaged by the hook 46 on the chain 38 by a pair of stationary tube members 58 and 60 which are secured to the frame 12 and have 'end portions 62 and 64 adjacent the track 22 to direct the wire 50 coming from the end portion 62 across the track 22 and into the end tube portion 64 of the tube 60. It is noted that the tube end portion 62 is pointed while the opposite end tube portion 64 is ared outwardly to receive the end of the wire 50 when it is being moved across the track 50.

An adjustable wire guide unit referred to generally by the reference numeral 63 in FIG. 2 is slidable on the' frame 12 by a sleeve 64 having a lock bolt 6 6 for selectively holding it in a desired position. The guide unit 62 includes a wire feed motor 68 for carrying a wire spool 69 mounted on the frame 12 (FIG. 1). The wire feed motor 68 is employed to push the wire through the guide members in loading the machine preparatory to its tying operation. Additionally, a wire cut-off unit 70 of conventional design is mounted on the movable unit 63; A top tube member 72 is provided for telescopingly engaging the interior of the tube member 58 (FIG. l) and a lower tube member 74 telescopingly engages the outer side of the tube member 60. A cross member 76 interconnects the tube members 72 and 74. Thus it is seen that in loading the machine with wire the wire feed motor 68 will thread the wire through the tube 72 into the tube 58 and across the track 22 into the tube 60 and thence into the tube 74. The forward end of the wire S when it reaches the end of the tube 74 as seen in FIG. l actuates a microswitch 78 which shuts off the wire feed m-otor 68. It is noted that the wire cut-olf unit 70 is disposed opposite the microswitch 78 and the endl of the wire 50 such that the top and bottom legs of the length of wire 50 are of equal length as seen in FIG. 4.

A chain responsive, switch actuating and wire positioning unit 80 is provided and pivots about the axis of a pin 82 interconnecting a nger member 84 to an elongated member 86. Thus it is seen in FIGS. 1 and 4 that the finger member 84 may freely pivot between a pair of screw stops 88 and 90 secured to the lower portion of the frame 12. The pins 54 and 56 on the chain 38 move the finger member 84 between its positions shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 respectively. Also, in FIG. 4 it is seen that a pin 92 is provided on a leg portion 94 of the member 86 for engagement with the finger member 84. Therefore, the finger member 84 serves to pivot the member 86 from the position of FIG. 1 to the position in FIG. 4. A pair of adjustable stop elements 96 and 98 are provided on the -legs of a U-shaped portion 100l of the member 86 and are adapted to alternately rotate a pivotal butterfly element 102 (FIG. l) which in turn operates a microswitch 104 which controls the chain sprocket drive motor 44. The portion 94 of the member 86 terminates in an elongated portion 106 having a cradle 108 on its outer end for engaging the trailing ends of the wire 50 to move it into a position for engagement with a twister unit 110. A spring 112 secured at one end to the lower portion of the frame 12 is secured to the portion 106 of the member 86 to normally hold it in the down position of FIG. 1.

The twister unit 110 is powered by a conventional motor 114 (FIG. 1) which rotates a shaft 116 extending the length of the frame 12 where it terminates in a U-shaped hook portion 118 having an outer free leg 120 being longer than the inner leg 122. As seen in FIG. 4, as the U-shaped hook portion 110 is rotated, the leg portion 120 is adapted to pass through the slot 52 in the hook 46 and engage the looped end of the wire 50 and remove it from the hook 46 to begin the tying operation with the loose ends of the wire 50 which have been moved into a position for engagement with the hook 110. As the twister hook 110 is rotated the looped end and the free ends of the wire 50 are drawn tighter and tighter around the rods 36 until the looped end breaks and a resulting tie wire 124 is provided as seen in FIG. 9. The broken ends of the looped end of the tie wire 124 are indicated by the reference numerals 126 while the free ends of the tie wire 50 are indicated by the reference numeral 128.

T'wo additional microswitches are shown on the tying machine in FIG. 1. rlhe rst is the switch 130 which is closed when the semicircular track member 24 is moved to its closed positionV as shown by the solid lines in FIG. A1. A second switch 132 is provided in the handle 16 and is actuated by a trigger element 134.

By referring to the electrical schematic drawing FIG. l0, the operation of the tying device will now be explained. Electrical power is applied to a pair of input lines 136 and 138. When the power is on, the wire feed motor 68 will push wire through the guide tube assembly until the forward end of the wire trips the switch 78 into contact with the terminal 140 and then the wire feed motor 68 is turned off. When the feed motor 78 is turned off, the wire cut-off unit 70 is turned on thereby cutting the wire from the spool 69 at the desired length. At the completion of the cutting operation, the switches 142 and 144 are moved into contact with the terminals 146 and 148 respectively thereby reversing the operation of lche wire cut-off unit 70. Also, current is now supplied to a coil 150 which closes relays 152, 154 and opens the normally closed relay 156. After the wire cutof unit has returned to its normal position, the switches 144 and 142 are moved back to their solid line positions in the schematic drawing and current then bypasses the wire cut-off unit since the relay 156 is open and the relay 152 is closed. Next, by closing the track member 24 the switch 130 is closed and power is then applied to the wire twister motor. Next, upon depressing the trigger 134 the switch 132 is closed and the chain drivek motor 144 is started and chain 38 is fed along the track 14 until the hook member 46 reaches the end of the track which corresponds with the arrival of the pin 56 (FIG. 4) at the finger 84 which is pivoted and in turn engages the pin 92 which thereupon actuates the member 86 to operate the switch 104 into engagement with the terminals 106 and 108. This reverses the direction of the chain drive motor and thereby returns the chain to its position shown in FIG. l. As before indicated, when the pin 56 has engaged the finger 84, the member 106 is moved upwardly whereby the cradle 108 moves the trailing wires 50 to a position for engagement by the twister hook 118. When the butterfly element 102 has been actuated by the stop element 98 and consequently the switch 104 has been actuated to place the switch 104 in contact with the terminals 106 and 108 respectively, the switch remains in this position until the chain 38 is returned to its position of FIG. 1. This happens because the current flowing through 106 into the chain drive motor 44 reverses its direction of operation and thereby returns the chain to its normal position of FIG. 1 and in doing so the pin 54 comes into engagement with the trigger finger 84 which causes the butterfly element 1012 to be flipped back to its position of FIG. 1 and consequently move the switch 104- back to its normal position thereby shutting off the chain drive motor. Immediately upon the chain beginning its return movement, the member 106 drops to its lower position under the action of the spring 112 since the pin 56 has moved out of engagement with the finger 84. After the wire twister has completed its tying operation the motor 114 may be stopped by the opening of the track 24 to the dash line position in FIG. l because the switch will then be opened. During this time however the wire feed motor may be operating and filling the wire guide members in readiness for their next forward movement of the chain 38 for the next tying operation.

It is also noted that when the switch 104 is actuated into contact with the terminals 106 and 108 that the coil 160 closes the relay 162 and opens the normally closed relay 164. Also, when the handle 1 6 is moved to its dash line position and the track is opened the coil 160 is de-energized since the switch 130 is opened. At this time the relay 164 is then closed again and thus prepares the chain drive motor 144 for its next operation. It is also noted that once the hook 46 has removed the wire 50 from the tube 74 the switch 78 is returned to its position shown in FIG. 10 because 4the wire which held the switch in contact with the terminal has been removed. The entire operation is now repeated.

I claim:

1. A wire tying device, comprising,

a frame,

an arcuate track on said frame for extending around work pieces to be tied,

a chain means movable on said track,

a wire dispensing assembly adapted to position wire adjacent said track,

a hook means on said chain means adapted to engage said wire and move it 'along said track around said work pieces,

a wire twister for engaging the ends of said wire and tying them around said work pieces, and

said arcuate track adapted to extend around said work pieces being U-shaped and said wire twister being disposed in the access opening between the legs of said U-shaped arcuate track, said wire twister being a substantially U-shaped rod member with one leg connected to a rotatable drive means and the other leg having a free end for engaging the ends of said wire.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein one of the leg portions of said U-shaped track is adapted to pivot to an open position forming a second access opening to between said legs of said U-shaped track to receive and remove work pieces from inside said track.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein said hook means includes a pair of grooves which intersect, one of said grooves being adapted to receive said wire and the other of said grooves having a greater depth than said one groove being adapted to receive said free end of said U-shaped rod member of saidvtwister for removing said wire from said one groove.

4. A wire tying device, comprising,

a frame,

an arcuate track on said frame for extending around work pieces to be tied,

a chain means movable on said track,

a wire dispensing assembly adapted to position wire adjacent said track,

a hook means on said chain means adapted to engage said wire and move it along said track around said work pieces,

a wire twister for engaging the ends of said wire and tying them around said work pieces, and

said arcuate track being substantially U-shaped, and said wire dispensing assembly includes a wire guide unit for positioning wire transversely over one leg only of said track remotely of the bight of said U-shaped track and adjacent the outer ends of said U-shaped track.

5. A wire tying device, comprising,

a frame,

an arcuate track on said frame for extending around work pieces to be tied,

a chain means movable on said track,

a wire dispensing assembly adapted to position wire adjacent said track,

a hook means on said chain means adapted to engage said wire and move it along said track around said work pieces,

a wire twister for engaging the ends of said wire and tying them around said work pieces, and

said track includes two arcuate portions, one of said portions is pivotally connected to said lframe, and means is provided for pivoting said one arcuate portion to an open position to receive and remove work pieces from inside said track.

6. The struct-ure of claim 4 wherein said hook means upon engaging said wire and pulling it out of said guide and along said track thereby forms said wire into a loop, the end of said loop adapted to be engaged `by said twister.

7. A wire tying device, comprising,

a frame,

an arcuate track on said frame for extending around work pieces to be tied,

a chain means movable on said track,

a wire dispensing assembly adapted to position wire adjacent said track,

a hook meansV on said chain means adapted to engage said wire and move it along said track around said work pieces,

a wire twister for engaging the ends of said Wire and tying them around said work pieces, and

said hook means includes a pair of grooves which intersect, one of said grooves being adapted to receive said wire and the other of said grooves having a greater depth than said one groove being adapted to receive said twister -for removing said wire from said one groove.

8. The structure of claim 4 wherein said wire guide unit of said wire dispensing assembly includes a pair of wire guides disposed on opposite sides of said one 'leg of said track, said guides having adjacent spaced apart ends forming a space therebetween over said track, a length of wire adapted to be fed into one of said wire guides and said spaced apart ends adapted to support said Wire extending across said track.

9. The structure of claim 8 and a switch means associated with said other guide is adapted to be actuated -by said wire upon a predetermined length of wire moving into said other guide.

10. The structure of claim 8 and a switch means disposed along the length of said other wire guide and positioned in the path of said wire, power means -for dispensing said wire, said switch means being electrically coupled to said wire dispensing assembly to deactivate said power means upon actuation by said' wire in said other guide.

11. 'Ihe structure of claim 4 wherein wire cutting means is positioned adjacent said one guide to cut said wire in said one guide to a length substantially equal to the length of the wire extending in said other guide on the opposite side of said track.

12. A wire tying device, comprising,

a frame,

an arcuate track on said frame for extending around work pieces to be tied,

a chain means movable on said track,

a wire dispensing assembly adapted to position wire adjacent said track,

a hook means on said chain means adapted to engage said Wire and move it along said track around said work pieces,

a wire twister for engaging the ends of said wire and tying them around said work pieces,and

said hook means upon engaging said wire and moving along said track around said work pieces forming a length of looped wire, and a lever arm pivoted to said frame, means for pivoting said arm from a position adjacent the inner end of said track to a second position between the inner and outer ends of said track, said arm in moving between said rst and second positions adapted to engage the trailing ends of said length of wire and move them into close proximity of said wire twister whereby said Wire twister may engage the looped end of said wire and said trailing ends to tie them together around said work pieces.

13. The structure of claim 12 and power means for reciprocating said chain means back and forth in said track around successive work pieces.

14. The structure of claim 12 and power means for reciprocating said chain means back and forth in said track around successive work pieces, and a switch means operatively connected to said power means for said chain for controlling the direction of movement of said chain, said switch means adapted to |be operatively actuated by said ylever arm in moving between said tirst and second positions.

15. A wire tying device, comprising,

a frame,

an arcuate track on said frame for extending around work pieces to be tied,

a chain means movable on said track,

a wire dispensing assembly adapted to position Wire adjacent said track,

a hook means on saidy chain means adapted to engage said Wire and move it along said track around said work pieces,

a wire twister for engaging the ends of said wire and tying them around said work pieces, and

said wire dispensing assembly includes a pair of wire guides on opposite sides of a portion of said track,

a movable guide assembly on said frame having guide portions positioned in alignment with said pair of Wire guides, a wire cutting means on one of said guide portions and a switch in the path of said wire on the other guide portion opposite said wire cutting means, said movable guide assembly adapted to A.be adjustably positioned relative to said pair of guides to provide the desired length of tying wire, said pair of guildes having spaced apart end portions adapted to guide said wire across said portion of said track whereby said hook means may engage said length of tying wire intermediate its ends, a power means for feeding wire through said pair of wire guides and said aligned guide portions, said switch electrically coupled to said power means and responsive to engagement by said wire.

16. A wire tying device, comprising,

a frame,

an arcuate track on said frame for extending around work pieces to be tied,

8 a chain means movable on said track, a wire dispensing assembly adapted to position wire adjacent said track, a hook means on said chain means adapted to engage said wire and move it along said track around said work pieces, a wire twister for engaging the ends of said wire and tying them around said work pieces, and said arcuate track includes a pair of portions in alignment and adapted to substantially encircle said work pieces, one of said portions being pivotally connected to said frame and adapted to move between a first position in closed alignment with said other track portion to a second open position, a handle member pivotally extending from said frame, an over center linkage connecting said handle to said pivotal track portion thereby said pivotal track portion may be locked in a closed position or moved to an open position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,262,232 11/ 1941 Harvey P10-93.3 2,420,498 5/1947 Pojman 10U-25 3,012,497 12/1961 Fryer 100--31 RICHARD I. HERBST, Primary Examiner.

L. A. LARSON, Assistant Examiner. 

